Highland Capital Management: James Dondero

James Dondero is the president and founder of Highland Capital Management, L.P. Mr. Dondero has more than 30 years of experience in the credit market industry. Before creating Highland in 1993, Jim worked as chief investment officer of Protective Life’s GIC segment and assisted in flourishing the business from an idea to more than $2 billion in 1989 and 1993. “Mr. Laffer is one of the industry’s most prolific minds and Mr. Dondero is our co-founder with over 30 years of proven industry experience,” Brian Mitts, Chief Financial Officer of NXRT says. “We are excited to have the opportunity to bring these two high-quality individuals onto our board of directors and we look forward to seeing the added value and expertise they can bring to our team.”

The expertise he has in portfolio management include leveraged bank loans, investment grade corporates, mortgage-backed securities, high-yield bonds, latest market debt, common stocks and preferred stocks. He controlled an estimated $1 billion in fixed income funds for American Express during 1985 to 1989. He finished his financial training program at JP Morgan before joining American Express.

Being the president and founder of the Highland Capital Management, one of the industry’s largest and most competent global alternative credit managers, James Dondero is entitled to supervise Highland’s investment activities and strategies for both institutional and retail products. With over a period of three decades in credit markets, Mr. Dondero is considered one of the earliest leaders of the Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO). His portfolio have earned a couple of awards and distinctions in his career such as the Lipper Award for Floating Rate Opportunities in 2014, Morningstar’s 5-star designation for Global Allocation in 2014 and Morningstar’s #1 ranked Healthcare Long/Short Equity Fund in 2014.

The firm has its headquarters located in Dallas, Texas and has branch offices in Singapore, Seoul, and New York. The diverse Highland’s client base constitute governments, high net-worth individuals, public pension plans, endowments, financial institutions, fund of funds, corporations, and foundations.

The company offers intensive credit projects including long-only funds and separate accounts, credit hedge funds, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and perturbed and customized situations private equity. The firm also specializes in alternative investments such as natural resources and long/short equities.Highland Capital Management, L.P. recently released a statement meant to rectify misinformation published by the press about the legal proceedings of James Dondero and Highland.
Mr. Dondero graduated from the University of Virginia with a BS in Commerce (Accounting and Finance). Being a Certified Managerial Accountant, he posses the right to utilize the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He is now the Chairman of NexBank and Cornerstone Healthcare Group, CCS Medical and is a member of the Board of Directors of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and American Banknote Corporation.